Four months ago, as we prepared to step into the Season of Advent, I prepared the following homily for the Parish; little did we know then, nor indeed what we were about to discover as Lent began six weeks ago, with news of a virus infection emerging in China, & now as we step into Holy Week itself, the reality of our situation is clearly life & faith changing. I would like us to read & pray my words below, not so much again, but as a first time, as its context & relevance seem powerful & clear, an offering of its time in late Nov 2019, prayed again in Our Lady & St Benedict’s Church Ampleforth on Friday 20 March 2020 in our last Mass together for the foreseeable future, & particularly so now 4/5April 2020. “..three readings; three windows on your Advent calendar, not with a chocolate behind each but a word/ phrase which, when woven /stitched together, set the tone & context for our Advent 2019..[1]”come..[2] know “the time” has come..[3] so stay awake”..I received two pastoral letters this week; our traditional Advent one from Bishop Terence which I leave for you to take home to choose the time & to read/reflect on..focuses on this new Church year being “the Year of the Word..the God who speaks”..who speaks through scripture the liturgy & in person 20 times day in ordinary real life..in 3retreats I have led this last wk..in one of most difficult groups I have ever worked with in 20years, as God spoke to me through them..second pastoral letter spoke sufficiently powerfully to me for me to want to share its wisdom with you as we begin our journey towards the manger together..”so stay awake!” no question of you falling asleep..authors name gives spice from the start..Clarissa Pinkola Estes “we were made for these times” written 13days ago so the straw is still warm. “my friends, do not lose heart. We were made for these times. I have heard from so many recently who are deeply & properly bewildered. They are concerned about the state of affairs in our world now. Ours is a time of almost daily astonishment, & often righteous rage over the latest degradations of what matters to civilised, visionary people. You are right in your assessments; the lustre & hubris some have aspired to while endorsing acts so heinous against children, elders, everyday people, the poor the unguarded, the helpless is breath-taking. Yet, I urge you, ask you, gentle you, to please not spend your spirit dry by bewailing these difficult times. Especially do not lose hope. Most particularly because, the fact is we were made for these times. Yes, for years we have been learning, practising been in training for, & just waiting to meet on this exact plain of engagement. I grew up on the Great Lakes & recognise a seaworthy vessel when I see one. Regarding awakened souls, there have never been more able vessels in the waters than there are right now across the world.; & they are fully provisioned & able to signal one another as never before in the history of humankind. Look out over the prow; there are millions of righteous souls on the waters with you. Even though your veneers may shiver from every wave in this stormy roil, I assure you that the long timbers composing your prow & rudder come from a greater forest. That long-grained lumber is known to withstand storms, to hold together, to hold its own & to advance, regardless. In any dark time there is tendency to veer towards fainting over how much is wrong or unmended in the world. Do not focus on that. There is a tendency too, to fall into being weakened by dwelling on what is outside your reach, by what you cannot yet be. Do not focus there. That is spending the wind without raising the sails. We are needed, that is all we can know; & though we meet resistance, we more so will meet great souls who will hail us, love us & guide us, & we will know them when they appear. Didn’t you say you were a believer? Didn’t you say you pledged to listen to a voice greater? Didn’t you ask for grace? Don’t you remember that to be in grace means to submit to the voice greater? Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world all at once, but of stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach. Any small calm thing that one soul can do to help another soul, to assist some portions of this poor suffering world, will help immensely. It is not given to us to know which acts or by whom, will cause the critical mass to tip towards an enduring good. What is needed for dramatic change is an accumulation of acts, adding, adding to & adding more continually. We know that it doesn’t need everyone on earth to bring justice & peace, but only a small determined group who will not give up during the first, second or hundredth gale. One of the most calming & powerful actions you can do to intervene in a stormy world is to stand up & show your soul. Soul on deck shines like gold in dark times; the light of the soul throws sparks, can send up flares, builds signal fires, causes proper matters to catch fire. To display the lantern of soul in shadowy times like these; to be fierce & to show mercy towards others; both are acts of immense bravery & greatest necessity. Struggling souls catch light from other souls who are fully lit & willing to show it; if you would help to calm the storm, this is one of the strongest things you can do. There will always be times when you feel discouraged. I too have felt despair many times in my life, but I do not keep a chair for it. I will not entertain it; it is not allowed to eat from my plate The reason is this; in my uttermost bones I know something, as you do. It is that there can be no despair when you remember why you came to earth, who you serve, & who sent you here. The good words we say & the good deeds we do are not ours. They are the words & deeds of the One who brought us here. In that spirit, I hope you will write this on your wall; When a great ship is in harbour & moored, it is safe, there can be no doubt. But that is not what great ships are built for.”
“..come..know the time has come..so stay awake” & now let us set sail into our Advent [1st Sun Advent YrA ; Mt 24; 37-44]
..let us sail into Holy Week, socially distanced but spiritually, I would suggest, rarely closer, & getting closer through the fears sufferings & passions of each holy week we are to endure together in this period of lockdown. A beloved crew of disciples in the boat “together”, a fine Parish, a great ship, out of our safe & comfortable harbour for the time being, doing what great ships & fine parishes are built for..”to hold its own, & to advance, regardless”.. As we come to the end of our second week of self-isolation, I am grateful to those many who have been in touch, asking for our prayers in particular changing situations; for Bill Spence now in Oak Trees Nursing Home in Alne for the time being; for Robert Dean, great grandfather of Elijah & Gabriel, pupils in St Benedict’s PS, who died of the virus on Monday; for our Dr Emma Criddle who is working in St Thomas’s Hosp & is about to move to the new Nightingale Hospital; for five of our parishioners in treatment or awaiting now delayed surgery for serious health issues; for a RC Sec School which will remain open over Easter to care for & tutor children of key workers; for a member of staff at the Dioc Curial Offices who has gone back to nurse in South Tees Hospital; three 12hr shifts a week on top of her work for us; someone terminally ill in Scarborough who determinedly has had nine out of ten sessions of chemotherapy but can’t face the last one; for those in our Village & locality who face financial hardship of all kinds, & who we hope will benefit from our Church food initiative Rev Catherine Reid & I have set up, where those in need can go to the Village Shop & quietly ask for a bag of food essentials which Deb & Ray have prepared. Rev Catherine & I will source funds to meet the cost. Middlesbrough Food Bank remains open & in desperate need for help which we are offering direct to them by cash transfer, or by a cash donation in an envelope posted at St Benedict’s House. Please keep each of these intentions & many more in your prayers. Last weekend I sent you a list of websites of Churches live streaming Mass each day. Our own website now gives details of our daily Mass & of two new initiatives which begin this week ; Home Prayers at 10am each morning. & the Rosary at 430pm each afternoon. https://www.ampleforth.org.uk/abbey/service-times Please let others know of these spiritual opportunities, our first attempts to offer you as much as we can, from us in our self-isolation to you in yours; “together” a crew always, & what a motley crew we are! “any small calming thing that one soul can do to help another soul, to assist some portion of this poor suffering world, will help immensely.” “we were made for these times.” With my love & prayers; keep safe. Fr Bede